PJ building a monster at GT

Its been a while since I updated the site but as we wind down recruiting season and turn towards spring football, I thought I'd weigh in on the state of affairs down at Georgia Tech. The first thing I notice about the class Paul Johnson has assembled is the size and quality of the offensive linemen he's recruited. The crown jewel of the OL recruits (and the entire class) is 4-star, US Army AA Omoregie Uzzi. At 6-4 and 298, he had offers from Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Virginia and Clemson. Joining Uzzi as OL recruits in this year's class are 6-5 320 TJ Barnes (Louisville, Auburn offers); 6-4 289 Nick McRae (NC State, Maryland, UCF offers); and 6-5 270 Phillip Smith (Penn State offer). First off, one needs to notice not just the caliber of player being brought in, but the size as well. At Navy, height and weight limitations meant that Paul Johnson worked regularly with starters up front averaging 270 lbs per man. Several times he had a starting tackle weigh in the range of 250 lbs. BCS schools couldn't stop his offense even with huge size and strength advantages in the trenches at Navy. They sure as hell won't be stopping his offense with players of this caliber.

Some other recruits to keep an eye on:

RB/FB Richard Watson from Tallahassee (offers from Ohio State, UCLA, UCF, Arizona State and Boston College)

S Brandon Leslie (former NU recruit with offers from NU, Utah, Washington)

LB BJ Machen from Ohio (Pitt, Stanford, West Virginia, Maryland, Michigan State)

LB Malcolm Munroe from Miami (Louisville, North Carolina, Rutgers, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Auburn, Clemson)

LB Steven Sylvester (Florida State, NC, NC State, Virginia Tech, South Carolina)

DB Jon Lockhart from Florida (Ole Miss, South Florida, UCF)

RB Marcus Wright from Texas (Texas 5A player of the year; senior year=3,374 yards and 45 TDs)

RB Embry Peeples from Florida (Auburn, LSU, West Virginia, Colorado)


Bottom line-there's a huge difference between the players being brought to GT and those Paul Johnson was able to get to Navy. This will be a very fast turnaround and Georgia Tech will win the ACC shortly.

PJ discusses his offense...again

Interesting stuff. Even comments on former GT commit Sean Renfree who is now looking at NU. Appears Renfree doesn't exactly fit the bill to run this offense.

For Johnson, option is only option

By Terence Moore | Friday, December 21, 2007, 10:10 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Terence Moore

If nothing else, you have to like new Georgia Tech football coach Paul Johnson for refusing to answer questions with an end-around. He prefers to burst up the middle, with legs still churning in search of extra yardage.

For instance: A visitor to Johnson’s office wanted to know about Sean Renfree, the nation’s 16th-best recruit at quarterback, according to Scout.com. Renfree became the first of three players to de-commit around the time previous Yellow Jackets coach Chan Gailey was fired. Before the visitor finished his question about whether Johnson’s love affair with the triple-option offense spooked the pass-oriented Renfree, Johnson began to answer.

“Don’t need him. Don’t want him. Doesn’t fit the system,” Johnson said, legs still churning, without blinking from his side of the couch across the way.

Well, then. We might as well get to the point. So are you going to use the triple-option offense at Tech as heavily as you did as the head coach at Navy for six years and at Georgia Southern for five years before that? If so, how will that affect recruiting, especially when it comes to acquiring quarterbacks and even a poor man’s version of Calvin Johnson at wide receiver?

Mostly, given the epidemic of empty seats at Bobby Dodd Stadium during most seasons (which contributed to Gailey’s ouster), will your offense that features a pass about every other presidential election attract folks or repel them?

Johnson answered each question, with legs still churning, and, yes, he will use the triple-option offense more often than not at Tech. And, no, he doesn’t think it will hinder recruiting — well, his type of recruiting that he said won’t exclude acquiring a future Calvin Johnson. And, yes, he understands that many around the Yellow Jacket Nation and beyond wonder if the triple-option offense is just another name for the boogeyman.

“They don’t understand it. What’s the first thing they think about when you say triple-option offense? Three yards and a cloud of dust,” Johnson said. “I know one year at Georgia Southern when I was there, Chattanooga led I-AA in passing. We had 25 plays of 20 yards or longer than they did, and we led the nation in rushing. I mean, you’ll see some 40-, 60-, 80-yard runs. That’s pretty exciting.

“Then, when we do throw, guys are petty wide open off of play action. At Navy, I know we were in the top 15 in passing efficiency [Actually, tied for 12th], which is the most important statistic. Not how many times you throw it.”

That’s Johnson’s story, and he’d better stick to it. His 8-4 Navy team led the nation in rushing this season, but it finished last in passing yards per game. In fact, the Midshipmen threw just an average of 10 times per game. Still, to keep Tech fans from rushing for No-Doz prior to games, Johnson suggested that Navy’s passing numbers deserve an asterisk.

There are size restrictions for those who enter the Naval Academy, which meant Johnson’s best offensive lineman was his center at 5 feet 9 and 275 pounds.

“I don’t want to be critical when I say this, because I love those kids, but there was a lot more factored in than what meets the eye as to why we did certain things,” Johnson said. “[Navy players] weren’t built for pass blocking. So it depends on the years and on the personnel. When we were at Hawaii [as offensive coordinator], it might have been 70 percent running and 30 percent passing, or even 60-40.”

The point is, said Johnson, Tech’s triple-option will evolve around the returning and incoming players that Johnson said he hasn’t had time to evaluate after barely two weeks on the job.

“I think that people have gotten too carried away with the triple-option, because that’s only one phase of the offense,” Johnson said. “If we have 75 plays, we’re not going to run 70 times. There’s a run-and-shoot package. There’s a play-action package. There’s different running plays besides the option. And, certainly, there are all kinds of options — counter option, speed option. We’ve got a sprint-out passing game. We’ve got draws. The key will be to come together with what our personnel here can do best.”

Remember, too, that Johnson’s triple-option has averaged nearly 450 yards per game to produce a 107-39 record during his time as a head coach. And here’s another thing: Hold the No-Doz.

“Everywhere I’ve coached, we’ve set attendance records,” Johnson said. “It’s an exciting offense. It’s fun to watch. You don’t know where the ball is all the time. It’s also pretty fast.”

Then Johnson eased into the biggest of smiles. That’s because his legs kept churning so much that he reached the end zone by saying, “You know what I’ve found? If you win, they like it.”

A few thoughts on Nebraska

So wasn't bringing back Tom Osborne and hiring Bo Pelini supposed to heal the hearts and minds of Husker fans and bring everyone back together? It seems from what I read that Nebraska fans are now as divided as ever. I admit, I haven't followed the current saga going on nearly as much as I normally would have (excuse me for being less than interested in Pelini as the head coach of Nebraska). So yeah its early on. So yeah Nebraska is losing recruits (and defensive recruits) like crazy right now. And yeah, people on both sides are rationalizing whatever they want to so it gives them a "feel good" mentality. The Bo Pelini's are rationalizing decommits by saying things like:

"yeah well we didn't want these guys anyways."
"the previous staff's recruits were all overrated anyways and we're better off starting from scratch."
"Pelini evaluated the film and pulled the offer."

Well you know what? I sure hope you guys are right. Because about a month before signing day and we've lost the core of what was once a very athletic and promising group of players.

If Pelini is such a genius, why couldn't he have taken these players, kept them in the fold and coached them up into something? Wasn't that what Tom Osborne wanted?

Instead it looks like he's going to take some less highly touted players and coach them into something? Right?

I find it most ironic that 5 star Simi Kuli, who once committed to NU over LSU, is now done with Nebraska. Everyone thought he comitted to NU because he knew Pelini would be the coach here. You tell me-the only common denominator in that equation is Pelini. But Kuli sucked and Pelini didn't want him anyways. Right?

And why did Tom Osborne make such a big deal about saving this recruiting class when he was hired on as AD? Think this is really what Tom Osborne had in mind when he hired Pelini and kept Shawn Watson?

Like I said...time will tell where this ship is going. So far, it looks like a rocky start. If rumors about Barney Cotton and his recruiting prowess are true, I'm one for one so far. Because I warned against the hiring of Barney "this is the real Big Red" Cotton. Wait until Callahan's players are gone to completely judge the man.

At least if we hired Paul Johnson, we would have known we were getting a coach that could take "average" players, coach them up and put them in a position to be successful. The only thing I've seen with Pelini is he can take a group of highly regarded recruits and turn them into something average.

Trust me, I just returned on a business trip to Louisiana and talked at length with numerous LSU fans. And they all said "Thank you for taking Pelini."

But hey, people will believe whatever they want to. I'm sure I'm just full of crap and a bitter fan with an axe to grind.

By the way, has Pelini signed a contract yet??

To Hell with Georgia

Johnson received a standing ovation when introduced at halftime of the Yellow Jackets' basketball game against Kansas on Tuesday night.
Johnson quickly earned another ovation with his brief comments as he held a microphone at midcourt.
Johnson said he has been busy recruiting and working on building his staff at Georgia Tech in his first week on the job.
"The one thing I have learned in those seven days is to hell with Georgia!" Johnson bellowed, drawing an immediate response from the Georgia Tech fans.

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Gotta love a coach who isn't afraid to go right after his rival. Meanwhile, it looks like a complete disaster of sorts at Nebraska. Hopefully Pelini and his staff rebound and get things straightened out before signing day. One thing is for sure-its a rough start for Pelini and not just because of the recruiting. He seems to have already lost a majority of the fans that were backing his hiring just a few weeks ago.

Updating GT

This from today's Atlanta Journal:

GIMME 5: Things to expect from Paul JohnsonIncluding beating Georgia
Published on: 12/18/07
Look out, Dawgs.
Award-winning author John Feinstein, who serves as color commentator for Navy football games, gives us five things Georgia Tech fans should expect from coach Paul Johnson:
1. Fast games. With Georgia Tech only throwing the ball slightly more often than the occurrence of leap year, people should be back at their tailgates sooner rather than later.
2. Lots of points. Johnson's offense will work anywhere, anytime, anyplace against anyone. Including the Falcons.
3. Wins over Georgia. He's good against arch-rivals: 6-0 vs. Army with an average score of 40-9.
4. A game against Georgia Southern. He still has a warm spot in his heart for the school.
5. A series against Army. OK, the Cadets just backed out of playing Tech but Johnson really likes playing against them.

So who will be right?

One thing is for sure-today's hiring by Georgia Tech of Paul Johnson now provides us with the opportunity to compare the progress between Nebraska under Bo Pelini and Georgia Tech under Johnson. Time will tell who is right and who was wrong. All the Nebraska fans that said Paul Johnson would be a terrible hire and that Pelini was the right choice will now be held accountable-as will I. Maybe that group will be right and Pelini will have Nebraska back in the BCS and competing for national titles shortly. Maybe I'll be right by saying Pelini is a poor man's Gene Chizik and be gone from Nebraska in 4 years. Or maybe the best scenario of all-Nebraska will play Georgia Tech in a bowl game within a few years and we'll be able to decide it on the field. Spring practice should be very interesting for both Nebraska and Georgia Tech. I'll be following both. But posters from HPH like OldTool and ToughTony won't be hiding from accountability any longer. Let the race begin.

Georgia Tech it is

And Paul Johnson will win immediately. In fact, he will have a great shot at winning the ACC next year. The GT schedule sets up nicely and he inherits a roster full of young and talented players. He goes from an instituation with no athletic scholarships and a few D-1 caliber players, to a school where he will now have athletes with the size, strength and physical abilities to beat the BCS teams. I'll always be a Nebraska football fan, even if I don't agree with the crooked decisions going on at my alma mater. But when Georgia Tech is in the BCS within two years, what will Nebraska fans and Tom Osborne, who completely passed on Paul Johnson, have to say? I imagine Tech QB Josh Nesbitt has to be the happiest player in the country right now.